Morgan Haro
Community Manager, PlayStation Digital Platforms
29Author Replies
Welcome to this week’s PlayStation Plus update, where we highlight the latest free games, discounts, and features that PS Plus members can expect in the coming week. Many have already jumped online to play Guardians of Middle Earth, which arrived free for PS Plus members last week, and this week we’re bringing you one of the bright indie stars in gaming with Closure; a PSN-exclusive that turned heads when it debuted last year. Read on and also check out some of the great discounts on amazing titles like Critter Crunch.
Don’t have PlayStation Plus? Go to the PlayStation Store on your PS3 or PS Vita or click here to get access via the Sony Entertainment Network online store.
Closure is a unique and stylistic puzzle platformer that takes the concept of light and shadow and twists it up into something never before seen. In Closure’s dark and foreboding universe, the only things that exist are what you can see. An object properly lit up is physically there, yet an object shrouded in darkness ceases to be. Experience this mind-bending puzzler free as a Plus member.
80% off for PS Plus members (Original price: $6.99; PS Plus Price: $1.40)
Developed by the geniuses at Capybara games, this award-winning, critically-acclaimed puzzle game asks players to take control of the cuddly Biggs, a loveable jungle creature with an iron-clad stomach. Biggs is in search of the jewel-rich critters that invade his habitat once a season, and using his tongue to pluck them from their vines, stuffs them into the waiting mouths of larger critters. This sets off chain reactions of bursting critters that drop the tasty jewels for Biggs to regurgitate for his hungry family. Sporting an 87 / 100 on Metacritic, with 1up.com giving it an A and praising it for its “”Beautiful visuals and inventive puzzles…worth sinking your teeth into.”, you owe it to yourself to hop on this gem for only $1.40. Plus, it has a ‘Barfing Tutorial’. I mean… c’mon, how can you pass that up?
20% off for PS Plus members (Original price: $9.99; PS Plus Price: $7.99)
This PSN re-release of the original run-and-gun shooter features cross-platform multiplayer between Vita and PS3, as well as ad-hoc/local and online co-op on respective platforms. With new content packing 30 levels of carnage, you’ll find much to love with options for original or enhanced visuals, and leaderboards for the more competitive among us. This launch week discount is exclusive for PS Plus members, so don’t miss out!
50% off for PS Plus members (Original price: $7.99; PS Plus Price: $4.00)
Another PSN gem hitting a great price for PS Plus members; Derrick the Deathfin is a fast-paced arcade action title set in a unique aquatic world made entirely out of paper & card. Rampage around the globe munching on paper creatures under the guise of avenging the death of his parents. With a unique art style that sets it apart from other games, and great gameplay to boot, check out Derrick the Deathfin for only $4.00 as a PS Plus member.
20% off for PS Plus members (Original price: $47.99; PS Plus Price: $38.39)
With the NHL season in full swing, hockey fans may want to take notice on this deal. NHL 13 accurately captures the speed, creativity, and strategy of today’s NHL with revolutionary True Performance Skating. Sync up with friends with the real-world of hockey in GM Connected, the first-ever online multiplayer dynasty mode with cooperative and Online Team Play, or relive the greatest moments from today’s NHL in NHL Moments Live. With core gameplay innovation, connected experiences, and the deepest feature set ever, NHL 13 is the definitive hockey experience. Don’t forget to also check out NHL GameCenter video app which is free to download!
What are your thoughts on this week’s update? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to use the poll links to speak your mind about what content you liked the most. If you want to see what the rest of the PlayStation community is talking about, head over to the PlayStation Community Forums in the PS Plus space to continue chatting about PS Plus, or find other great topics to contribute your thoughts to, or start one for yourself. See you in the comments!
Closure is not a bad game,the bad thing is I already own it :/,gonna buy critter crunch thanks to the people giving feedback on the game,appreciate the discount,other than that @ Morgan there def gotta be 2 plus services or a choice in a game we get every week,most of us own many of these games given lately on plus,please look into having a plus service for gamers that barely buy games,and one for gamers that buy more games,look forward to the next update …
Time to grow up, no? You cannot speak for all of us, so quit saying that a majority this or majority that says this.
Yes, you think this is a kids game, but sorry hate to break it to you, but just because you think that does not make it so. And even if it was, so what? Are you telling me you hate games like Little Big Planet? Get over yourself, nobody cares if you don’t like games with a simple format to them.
I cannot fathom what incites you to get so mad that you really feel that all this content and deals throughout the year are somehow not worth the money you paid for this service.
Even if I somehow disliked 3/4 of the games that have been given away for free, you cannot deny that the sales have not been more than enough to cover the cost of PS+.
Give it a rest. If people seriously did not like PS+ there would not have been a 259% increase in subscriptions since last year. So much for your thoughts about people not liking PS+.
But by all means, if you want to keep whining like your two year old does, then by all means keep acting like a child.
If you want those other games so bad go and get a EU subscription, I’m sure that will do much more than your weekly posts about how “bad” the NA content is.
I really feel sorry for you if you let a games aesthetics determine whether a game is fun or not.
I know this reply will never be read and will fall into the depths of oblivion but the NHL 13 discount is a joke. 38 dollars for plus when it was 20 something during the winter holidays – it’s now 39.99 retail new at stores
Why would I buy a game thats going to eat up about 5 gigs of hard drive space and cannot be re-sold? Why pay as much as retail when it’s out of date in a few months. I know this isn’t Sony’s decision ultimately but I sure would’ve liked a deeper discount or one that was the same as last time.
Answering to # 138, Morgan said :
There’s not much I can do to help a gamer who isn’t excited by a game being added into Plus because they don’t like it. =| (…)
Unfortunately, I wrote it last week: dear Morgan, your answers are extremely unprofessional.
Allow me to do the PR: The success of a service like Plus is solely based upon the satisfaction of its customers. When the majority starts complaining, something is awfully wrong with the service, not with the customers. Don’t get me wrong, I still think Plus is a great service, the problem, however, resides in the huge discrepancies between the same service in the US and EU. This is what drove people’s frustration: nobody gets angry when differences are minor and happen now and then. Unfortunately, this became a habit in the last months: nobody minds for small differences, but this is not the case anymore, we are almost talking about something like Silver Plus for US and Gold for EU!
And by the way: doesn’t Capcom save the day again? (SSF IV, RE5, Megaman, etc.). Sony US remember this definition: “Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably”.
Are there currently any plans to show the Vita some birthday love here in NA? My fingers are crossed that we can see something similar to the incredible Vita sales that are happening across the pond! If not, I hope that you guys have something planned for us!
I think it’s fairly obvious now that the trolls have been forced to quiet down that the stark majority of Plus users are feeling cheated for two reasons:
1) The quality discrepancy between EU and NA Plus updates
2) The inability to cancel your subscription
For 1, it’s simple, if you cannot secure a quality retail game with a recent release comparable to EU, then add more PSN games that add up to equivalent quality. Can’t get a retail game for this month? Give us 4 – 5 PSN games that add up to equivalent value. This shouldn’t be overly difficult considering that Sony publishes a lot of games themselves, and most likely these indie developers would love a bit of spotlight. I doubt that this request can’t be met very easily by the team.
The 3rd issue is the most important, we need a way to cancel our subscriptions. At this point, there are enough of us who’ve completely lost faith in this service that we’re ready to cancel rather than wait another week. I want an option to do so straight from the PSN store. Please implement this ASAP so I can finally boycott this service and quit coming here every week.
Hate to say nothing of to great for me this week with the plus stuff… but the drops twisted metal, yugioh 5 ds, Dynasty warriors demo ,.. i am still going to be a happy camper. :) already have twisted metal black cause its dl came with the limited edition of Twisted metal last year. but its still a great game… my son is buying it .
Really Morgan, Catherine is suppose to be valentine plus update, didn’t read the memo again Morgan?
lets get it right on next holiday . OK. Thank you, From your Customer Ambassador to the Playstation Network. online id:bombbreath Sony make.belive Lets remember the Customer is 1st. And the Customer is allways right. Did you miss that memo to. Just checking, p.s. good job on more response to comments . You read that memo .
I love being a PS Plus member and it’s BY FAR better than XBL where you spend even more just for the ‘right’ to play online. However, that being said I’m getting tired of getting all these arcadish stuff, throw in some full-fledged PS3 and Vita games more often for God’s sake! I mean I’m not asking (like other folks here) to get a game like Ni No Kuni which just came out for free or with a discount, that’s just ridiculous. But there’s tons of titles that are already in the market for ~$20 that we could and should be getting for free.
I didn’t really like Closure, but I’m happy to see Critter Crunch on there. I think that’s a game that more people need to play. It’s highly addictive! =)
Sony, please do not, as one poster has suggested, make us pay for a seperate plus account for vita and ps3. Vita is not canninbalizing any discounts from ps3 members. I have been a ps+ member for a while now and I have never seen anywhere where it was promised that we would get 4 free ps3 games a month and so I dont understand the argument that 1 free vita game is hurting ps3 users because they only got 3 free games.
In fact, when i signed up for plus it was stated that there would be 2 free games a month and we are already getting more than that even before figuring in the free vita game. If you want people to buy vitas then keep vita in the plus package and dont listen to the one squeaky wheel. He might get greased up but there will be many many more people upset if they have to pay for a second subscription for the vita. You would lose more subscribers and vita sales by splitting the services than keeping them together.
When are you guys going to fix the entitlement problem? I’ve had around 20 emails with customer support, to no avail. I cannot buy Shank 2 because I downloaded it free per Plus membership. You guys need to develop something that gives people the option to buy, regardless of if the got it free with their plus membership .
Great update, Critter Crunch looks like a great game for Playstation to have, I love supporting games like this.
I need to get a 500gb hard drive, all these awesome free games and I have to keep deleting some of them to make room. I can’t even download LBP2 or Street Fighter. Both are HUGE! Not complaining though, keep the free games coming!
IS THIS OPTIONAL SERVICE NOT UP TO YOUR STANDARDS. Then quit it and go buy the games you want. Playstation Plus is awesome.
PSN is awesome and it’s free.
PS+ is optional and is $10 cheaper than Xbox live.
Xbox live gives nothing for it’s subscription.
PS+ free games, full game trials, exclusive deals/content, free premium themes/avatars. I mean I’ve only been a member since July 2012 (about 6 months) and I have all these awesome games I love: Boarderlands, Just Cause 2, Infamous 2, LBP 2, Lora Croft Tomb Raider, NFL Blitz, Payday the Heist, Renegade Ops, Virtua Fighter 5, NBA Jam, Bioshock 2, Darksiders, Warhammer and more. Then I haven’t even checked out that Guardians of Middle earth game and all the smaller games are too cool because I would never spend money on stuff like that and the great discounts.
Critter Crunch looks awesome and 80% off! $1.40 is nothing, this game looks like Tetris attacks and is loads of fun playing against someone.
WAR is doing a comparison of PS Plus in NA vs PS Plus in EU, comparable services.
When you compare it to XboxLive, of course, both PS Plus NA and EU is better. But if you compare what we get to what EU gets, you will be sorely disappointed, like WAR. My advice, since you’re happy with the service, don’t do the comparison unless you want to join the band of complainers.
As for PS+ being optional, while it is, false representation is what got most of us into the subscription in the first place. Add to that the fact that we can’t even cancel our subscriptions once we discover the charade, and you have a recipe for mass complaints every week.
Cool, i wanted Closure. But i’ll be honest with you, i don’t care for discounts. I’d rather have an extra game from time to time instead of the discounts, even with the hazardous factor that i may already have it.
Yet another week that Sony dumps a lame game on the public. I no longer look forward to the ps+ updates cause the games and discounts are worthless to me if I could get a refund on ps+ I would.
I’m a PSPlus member with my real account. JoeGoodsnake is just the account I use publicly as I don’t want any association between the public ID I use and the one I use personally to play my games. Got kids, and the last thing I need is someone messaging nonsense to my inbox, or worse, something happening to my account due to my actions with JoeGoodsnake.
I do enjoy PLUS quite a bit as a service, since I got it back in November I hardly go to the local Gamestop and just buy digital games with a discount. This is big for me considering I’m a big fan of hardcopy games. Unfortunately, once I noticed the value discrepancy between regions for the free rentals, I’ve been on this board asking for more value.
@ soccerman88 to say that retail games have better stories is laughable. Retail games are suffering because they are so highly produced. Just like Justin Beiber is not going to be releasing any songs that are heartfelt or meaningful, retail game production focuses too much on “what sells” to the masses (hyper realistic graphics, gore, ‘brutalness’, fps) to deliver solid storylines. There are exceptions, like portal, but there is generally not enough elbow room in highly produced games to allow for a well developed story. Sure retail games can be a bit longer, but the 60$ price tag is not because of their quality(even terrible retail games launch with a 60$ price tag), it is because of the amount of money they spent researching and producing the game to get it to appeal to mass audiences.
Due to the lack of an agreeable method of measuring a “good” game by subjective standards, the only fair way to judge quality is by looking at three factors: price, date of release and critical reception. Because these three are objective and have little to do with individual preferences, we can use these to determine whether quality is lacking in the NA releases, compared to EU.
Sadly, it is.
While I agree with you that Unfinished Swan and the likes are much better in subjective quality to some retail games, Unfinished Swan is not the game we got anyway. We’re getting the likes of Foosball (no story), Rochard (crap story, okay gameplay), and now Closure (which may be the best of the crap releases yet). I’ve only done the demo to Closure a while ago, and while the gameplay is interesting, there is absolutely no story as far as I can tell. If there was one, it is probably very short. So even using your subjective method of judging quality, we’re getting screwed.
Since it’s easier to judge quality based on price, release date and critical reception, I and others are asking for quality based on these three factors.
The following message was left by Morgan for boomstick yesterday, but I think you could use it yourself. Either take a crap or get off the pot. Cheers!
+ Morgan Haro on February 11th, 2013 at 1:54 pm said:
hey boomstick, if you feel strongly about cancelling your Plus membership, contact Customer Service and they can review your request.
PHONE 800-345-SONY
Mon – Sun 6:00AM – 10:00PM Pacific
To be clear about an earlier comment. I meant that there are many more ignorant people than there are informed ones, and there are more stupid people in the world than both the ignorant/intelligent or informed/intelligent combined. It is this massive market of simpletons that most retail games market towards…
@JoeGoodsnake – And stop making the argument that those that are calling for Morgan’s job are doing me a favor by doing so because they are trying to secure better PS+ content which I would benefit from. I don’t want better content at that “price” (i.e., someone losing their livelihood). Get real…this is about a $50 subscription fee for some video games. That’s someone’s job. If people have real complaints, either make them like adults, or unsubscribe (and that argument that you can’t unsubscribe is rendered moot by Morgan’s post with the phone number).
I feel you, buddy. Although we may have separate tastes, I am assuming you’re not a meathead FPS lover (considering the god-awful storylines). I’m personally not a fan of JRPGs either, which seem to dominate the RPG market right now, so my options are few, although Ni No Kuni looks mindblowing.
I’m personally waiting on Beyond since I’m a huge fan of David Cage’s work. If you haven’t played Heavy Rain, and you’re a fan of a good plot, I recommend it highly.
Anyway, I was just trying to clarify that the only reason people are clamoring about the price is due to the fact that it’s one of the few methods of determining “quality” that everyone can agree on, despite not being very accurate at all. Just my two cents ;)
@joegoodsnake I don’t deny discrepancies between eu and us. I just don’t care to acknowledge the issue because I feel it is a mute point.
As far as determining quality goes… your factors are also terribly flawed. Think about the initial reception of however many novels and movies considered now to be classic works of Literary Art that, in their time, were shunned. You could pay 60$ for some brand new piece of crap game, and as for release date as a factor…. I don’t even see how that is remotely relevant to quality.
In 60 years people aren’t going to be comparing twilight books to mark twaine.
my point is that tomorrows classics will be games that stand the test of time, games like ff7 and portal. Games that were produced, not to sell to mass audiences or generate buzz, but to leave a lasting impression in the hearts and minds of their viewers. That is what design is all about.
You don’t think I already tried that? The Customer Support line states that cancellation is not an option. I suppose I can always yell and start a commotion as I’m sure that will work, but should it come to that? Cancellation should be an available option on PSN itself.
As for the rest of your argument about someone’s job, can you please clarify what you’re talking about? I’m not fully sure I understand how releasing the same amount of value as EU is going to cause someone to lose their job. I just want the logic, if you don’t mind going through it.
Furthermore, these real complaints are in fact being made. Some more adult-like than others, but if you go through the board you’ll notice there are a LOT of complaints. It’s time for SCEA to do something about it. Sadly, you’re the minority, which is why you’re angry enough to post against the majority. You can’t go a single page without massive complaints, so you’re angry and I understand that.
Now we’re getting into philosophy, which I’d prefer to stay out of. Suffice to say that the points which I’ve decided to measure quality on are the -best- methods we have. If you have a better method, I’d be glad to hear it, but so far you’ve mentioned storyline and gameplay; both of which I agree with but that I have to say are difficult to measure.
You’re right about critical reception changing over the years, but I expect that these games are to be released on PLUS within 3 – 5 years of their release (though I’d prefer sooner). In that time, critical reception very rarely changes dramatically, while cult followings may have been earned.
And if you believe this is a moot point that doesn’t require analysis, then you shouldn’t be chiding those who believe it is, right? If you’re happy, no one is stopping you from being happy with your subscription. Those of us who aren’t just choose to voice it. I don’t think that should be a problem.
btw, at this point I am just conversing, not trying to argue. My opinions are my own, it just annoys me that so many people complain, seemingly without seeing any sort of bigger picture.
I am very happy with my subscription, totally getting my moneys worth. However, I feel that there needs to be spoken opposition towards the complaints.
Absolutely, I’m not taking this to be an argument as you’re pretty civil and we do agree on a lot of points. All I’m saying is, I wish I didn’t live in the internet age where I can just look over to my neighbour and see that I’m getting screwed.
We’re all looking at the big picture, and we’ve all given pretty good reasoning behind our positions and in the end have not come to a conclusion. I’ve yet to see an argument that I don’t have a counterargument to though, and so my position, like yours, is sealed.
Anyway, I think the recent crackdown on insulting and offending behaviour should definitely make a difference in making things a little easier between all sides, so I predict in the coming weeks/months that things should calm down a bit.
“If everyone who is happy just stays quiet then the only voices heard are those complaining”
Exactly! People are less likely to comment when they’re happy. As a matter of fact, if you look at the number of comments on the previous updates, you’ll notice a dramatic decrease in comments on Darksiders week. I think this fits in perfectly with the idea, less people were unhappy and so less people commented.
I made sure I did my part by complementing their choice and voting in the polls to show that I was happy. But it’s up to PS to realize this. Judging by the comments, I’d say 50% are happy with their PLUS at least. However, I still don’t think it’s good numbers for SCEA.
Customer satisfaction is paramount in a subscription-oriented service as return customers are your bread and butter.
Hey, the majority of complaints on here are region based, it’s been explained before but most people refuse to understand. Complaining is easier than understanding for most.
Being that the region thing is such a big issue, it really comes down to Playstation vs. Playstation. Nobody is talking about Xbox or Nintendo services because they don’t exist.
I am proud to be a plus member because it offers me something….as opposed to NOTHING.
@ Joegoodsnake For the time being I am happy that there are at least people like us that are providing sound, intelligent feedback. I have been reading these forums for long enough to feel that sony actually does have people reading them and it seems to me that they even takes their user’s opinions, desires, and ideas into consideration.
BTW, Morgan I got my resume ready just give me a holla I will help you straighten those guys a SONY out!
Closure is not a bad game,the bad thing is I already own it :/,gonna buy critter crunch thanks to the people giving feedback on the game,appreciate the discount,other than that @ Morgan there def gotta be 2 plus services or a choice in a game we get every week,most of us own many of these games given lately on plus,please look into having a plus service for gamers that barely buy games,and one for gamers that buy more games,look forward to the next update …
Cool. I’ve been wanting closure.
@WAR0979,
Time to grow up, no? You cannot speak for all of us, so quit saying that a majority this or majority that says this.
Yes, you think this is a kids game, but sorry hate to break it to you, but just because you think that does not make it so. And even if it was, so what? Are you telling me you hate games like Little Big Planet? Get over yourself, nobody cares if you don’t like games with a simple format to them.
I cannot fathom what incites you to get so mad that you really feel that all this content and deals throughout the year are somehow not worth the money you paid for this service.
Even if I somehow disliked 3/4 of the games that have been given away for free, you cannot deny that the sales have not been more than enough to cover the cost of PS+.
Give it a rest. If people seriously did not like PS+ there would not have been a 259% increase in subscriptions since last year. So much for your thoughts about people not liking PS+.
But by all means, if you want to keep whining like your two year old does, then by all means keep acting like a child.
If you want those other games so bad go and get a EU subscription, I’m sure that will do much more than your weekly posts about how “bad” the NA content is.
I really feel sorry for you if you let a games aesthetics determine whether a game is fun or not.
I know this reply will never be read and will fall into the depths of oblivion but the NHL 13 discount is a joke. 38 dollars for plus when it was 20 something during the winter holidays – it’s now 39.99 retail new at stores
Why would I buy a game thats going to eat up about 5 gigs of hard drive space and cannot be re-sold? Why pay as much as retail when it’s out of date in a few months. I know this isn’t Sony’s decision ultimately but I sure would’ve liked a deeper discount or one that was the same as last time.
Answering to # 138, Morgan said :
There’s not much I can do to help a gamer who isn’t excited by a game being added into Plus because they don’t like it. =| (…)
Unfortunately, I wrote it last week: dear Morgan, your answers are extremely unprofessional.
Allow me to do the PR: The success of a service like Plus is solely based upon the satisfaction of its customers. When the majority starts complaining, something is awfully wrong with the service, not with the customers. Don’t get me wrong, I still think Plus is a great service, the problem, however, resides in the huge discrepancies between the same service in the US and EU. This is what drove people’s frustration: nobody gets angry when differences are minor and happen now and then. Unfortunately, this became a habit in the last months: nobody minds for small differences, but this is not the case anymore, we are almost talking about something like Silver Plus for US and Gold for EU!
And by the way: doesn’t Capcom save the day again? (SSF IV, RE5, Megaman, etc.). Sony US remember this definition: “Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably”.
@461 Exactly, sometimes it’s as though Sony doesn’t want my money.
Hey Morgan,
Are there currently any plans to show the Vita some birthday love here in NA? My fingers are crossed that we can see something similar to the incredible Vita sales that are happening across the pond! If not, I hope that you guys have something planned for us!
Thanks
I am certainly not renewing my PS+ this year. Not that it is not worth it per se but the EU one is way better and I have a EU account as well.
It’s unfair that Europe keeps getting WAY more PS3 full games than North America does
over the last 2 months they’ve gotten
Mortal Kombat
Batman: Arkaham City
and now…
Sleeping Dogs
PS Plus better carry over to the PS4 and bring us better games for what we pay every year
where the hell is the skyrim dlc? im sick of this, im about to trade in my ps3
Bueno algun dia se vendran juegos mas decentes.
I think it’s fairly obvious now that the trolls have been forced to quiet down that the stark majority of Plus users are feeling cheated for two reasons:
1) The quality discrepancy between EU and NA Plus updates
2) The inability to cancel your subscription
For 1, it’s simple, if you cannot secure a quality retail game with a recent release comparable to EU, then add more PSN games that add up to equivalent quality. Can’t get a retail game for this month? Give us 4 – 5 PSN games that add up to equivalent value. This shouldn’t be overly difficult considering that Sony publishes a lot of games themselves, and most likely these indie developers would love a bit of spotlight. I doubt that this request can’t be met very easily by the team.
The 3rd issue is the most important, we need a way to cancel our subscriptions. At this point, there are enough of us who’ve completely lost faith in this service that we’re ready to cancel rather than wait another week. I want an option to do so straight from the PSN store. Please implement this ASAP so I can finally boycott this service and quit coming here every week.
Hate to say nothing of to great for me this week with the plus stuff… but the drops twisted metal, yugioh 5 ds, Dynasty warriors demo ,.. i am still going to be a happy camper. :) already have twisted metal black cause its dl came with the limited edition of Twisted metal last year. but its still a great game… my son is buying it .
Chill week, hopefully next week a full game
Really Morgan, Catherine is suppose to be valentine plus update, didn’t read the memo again Morgan?
lets get it right on next holiday . OK. Thank you, From your Customer Ambassador to the Playstation Network. online id:bombbreath Sony make.belive Lets remember the Customer is 1st. And the Customer is allways right. Did you miss that memo to. Just checking, p.s. good job on more response to comments . You read that memo .
Where is Sleeping Dogs?
*correction on comment 469 by myself, I meant to say second issue, not third.
I love being a PS Plus member and it’s BY FAR better than XBL where you spend even more just for the ‘right’ to play online. However, that being said I’m getting tired of getting all these arcadish stuff, throw in some full-fledged PS3 and Vita games more often for God’s sake! I mean I’m not asking (like other folks here) to get a game like Ni No Kuni which just came out for free or with a discount, that’s just ridiculous. But there’s tons of titles that are already in the market for ~$20 that we could and should be getting for free.
I didn’t really like Closure, but I’m happy to see Critter Crunch on there. I think that’s a game that more people need to play. It’s highly addictive! =)
Sony, please do not, as one poster has suggested, make us pay for a seperate plus account for vita and ps3. Vita is not canninbalizing any discounts from ps3 members. I have been a ps+ member for a while now and I have never seen anywhere where it was promised that we would get 4 free ps3 games a month and so I dont understand the argument that 1 free vita game is hurting ps3 users because they only got 3 free games.
In fact, when i signed up for plus it was stated that there would be 2 free games a month and we are already getting more than that even before figuring in the free vita game. If you want people to buy vitas then keep vita in the plus package and dont listen to the one squeaky wheel. He might get greased up but there will be many many more people upset if they have to pay for a second subscription for the vita. You would lose more subscribers and vita sales by splitting the services than keeping them together.
When are you guys going to fix the entitlement problem? I’ve had around 20 emails with customer support, to no avail. I cannot buy Shank 2 because I downloaded it free per Plus membership. You guys need to develop something that gives people the option to buy, regardless of if the got it free with their plus membership .
Great update, Critter Crunch looks like a great game for Playstation to have, I love supporting games like this.
I need to get a 500gb hard drive, all these awesome free games and I have to keep deleting some of them to make room. I can’t even download LBP2 or Street Fighter. Both are HUGE! Not complaining though, keep the free games coming!
@ WAR0979
Dude you are off the deep end.
IS THIS OPTIONAL SERVICE NOT UP TO YOUR STANDARDS. Then quit it and go buy the games you want. Playstation Plus is awesome.
PSN is awesome and it’s free.
PS+ is optional and is $10 cheaper than Xbox live.
Xbox live gives nothing for it’s subscription.
PS+ free games, full game trials, exclusive deals/content, free premium themes/avatars. I mean I’ve only been a member since July 2012 (about 6 months) and I have all these awesome games I love: Boarderlands, Just Cause 2, Infamous 2, LBP 2, Lora Croft Tomb Raider, NFL Blitz, Payday the Heist, Renegade Ops, Virtua Fighter 5, NBA Jam, Bioshock 2, Darksiders, Warhammer and more. Then I haven’t even checked out that Guardians of Middle earth game and all the smaller games are too cool because I would never spend money on stuff like that and the great discounts.
Critter Crunch looks awesome and 80% off! $1.40 is nothing, this game looks like Tetris attacks and is loads of fun playing against someone.
@DieYoMoFo
WAR is doing a comparison of PS Plus in NA vs PS Plus in EU, comparable services.
When you compare it to XboxLive, of course, both PS Plus NA and EU is better. But if you compare what we get to what EU gets, you will be sorely disappointed, like WAR. My advice, since you’re happy with the service, don’t do the comparison unless you want to join the band of complainers.
As for PS+ being optional, while it is, false representation is what got most of us into the subscription in the first place. Add to that the fact that we can’t even cancel our subscriptions once we discover the charade, and you have a recipe for mass complaints every week.
F1 racers?
Cool, i wanted Closure. But i’ll be honest with you, i don’t care for discounts. I’d rather have an extra game from time to time instead of the discounts, even with the hazardous factor that i may already have it.
@JoeGoodsnake…
I noticed by your PSN ID that you are NOT a Plus member!
You should give it a try buddy…
Yet another week that Sony dumps a lame game on the public. I no longer look forward to the ps+ updates cause the games and discounts are worthless to me if I could get a refund on ps+ I would.
@four24twenty
I’m a PSPlus member with my real account. JoeGoodsnake is just the account I use publicly as I don’t want any association between the public ID I use and the one I use personally to play my games. Got kids, and the last thing I need is someone messaging nonsense to my inbox, or worse, something happening to my account due to my actions with JoeGoodsnake.
I do enjoy PLUS quite a bit as a service, since I got it back in November I hardly go to the local Gamestop and just buy digital games with a discount. This is big for me considering I’m a big fan of hardcopy games. Unfortunately, once I noticed the value discrepancy between regions for the free rentals, I’ve been on this board asking for more value.
@ soccerman88 to say that retail games have better stories is laughable. Retail games are suffering because they are so highly produced. Just like Justin Beiber is not going to be releasing any songs that are heartfelt or meaningful, retail game production focuses too much on “what sells” to the masses (hyper realistic graphics, gore, ‘brutalness’, fps) to deliver solid storylines. There are exceptions, like portal, but there is generally not enough elbow room in highly produced games to allow for a well developed story. Sure retail games can be a bit longer, but the 60$ price tag is not because of their quality(even terrible retail games launch with a 60$ price tag), it is because of the amount of money they spent researching and producing the game to get it to appeal to mass audiences.
@TALLglassofWATER
Due to the lack of an agreeable method of measuring a “good” game by subjective standards, the only fair way to judge quality is by looking at three factors: price, date of release and critical reception. Because these three are objective and have little to do with individual preferences, we can use these to determine whether quality is lacking in the NA releases, compared to EU.
Sadly, it is.
While I agree with you that Unfinished Swan and the likes are much better in subjective quality to some retail games, Unfinished Swan is not the game we got anyway. We’re getting the likes of Foosball (no story), Rochard (crap story, okay gameplay), and now Closure (which may be the best of the crap releases yet). I’ve only done the demo to Closure a while ago, and while the gameplay is interesting, there is absolutely no story as far as I can tell. If there was one, it is probably very short. So even using your subjective method of judging quality, we’re getting screwed.
Since it’s easier to judge quality based on price, release date and critical reception, I and others are asking for quality based on these three factors.
@JoeGoodsnake
The following message was left by Morgan for boomstick yesterday, but I think you could use it yourself. Either take a crap or get off the pot. Cheers!
+ Morgan Haro on February 11th, 2013 at 1:54 pm said:
hey boomstick, if you feel strongly about cancelling your Plus membership, contact Customer Service and they can review your request.
PHONE 800-345-SONY
Mon – Sun 6:00AM – 10:00PM Pacific
To be clear about an earlier comment. I meant that there are many more ignorant people than there are informed ones, and there are more stupid people in the world than both the ignorant/intelligent or informed/intelligent combined. It is this massive market of simpletons that most retail games market towards…
@JoeGoodsnake – And stop making the argument that those that are calling for Morgan’s job are doing me a favor by doing so because they are trying to secure better PS+ content which I would benefit from. I don’t want better content at that “price” (i.e., someone losing their livelihood). Get real…this is about a $50 subscription fee for some video games. That’s someone’s job. If people have real complaints, either make them like adults, or unsubscribe (and that argument that you can’t unsubscribe is rendered moot by Morgan’s post with the phone number).
@TALLglassofWATER
I feel you, buddy. Although we may have separate tastes, I am assuming you’re not a meathead FPS lover (considering the god-awful storylines). I’m personally not a fan of JRPGs either, which seem to dominate the RPG market right now, so my options are few, although Ni No Kuni looks mindblowing.
I’m personally waiting on Beyond since I’m a huge fan of David Cage’s work. If you haven’t played Heavy Rain, and you’re a fan of a good plot, I recommend it highly.
Anyway, I was just trying to clarify that the only reason people are clamoring about the price is due to the fact that it’s one of the few methods of determining “quality” that everyone can agree on, despite not being very accurate at all. Just my two cents ;)
@joegoodsnake I don’t deny discrepancies between eu and us. I just don’t care to acknowledge the issue because I feel it is a mute point.
As far as determining quality goes… your factors are also terribly flawed. Think about the initial reception of however many novels and movies considered now to be classic works of Literary Art that, in their time, were shunned. You could pay 60$ for some brand new piece of crap game, and as for release date as a factor…. I don’t even see how that is remotely relevant to quality.
In 60 years people aren’t going to be comparing twilight books to mark twaine.
my point is that tomorrows classics will be games that stand the test of time, games like ff7 and portal. Games that were produced, not to sell to mass audiences or generate buzz, but to leave a lasting impression in the hearts and minds of their viewers. That is what design is all about.
@GStylez1980
You don’t think I already tried that? The Customer Support line states that cancellation is not an option. I suppose I can always yell and start a commotion as I’m sure that will work, but should it come to that? Cancellation should be an available option on PSN itself.
As for the rest of your argument about someone’s job, can you please clarify what you’re talking about? I’m not fully sure I understand how releasing the same amount of value as EU is going to cause someone to lose their job. I just want the logic, if you don’t mind going through it.
Furthermore, these real complaints are in fact being made. Some more adult-like than others, but if you go through the board you’ll notice there are a LOT of complaints. It’s time for SCEA to do something about it. Sadly, you’re the minority, which is why you’re angry enough to post against the majority. You can’t go a single page without massive complaints, so you’re angry and I understand that.
@TALLglassofWATER
Now we’re getting into philosophy, which I’d prefer to stay out of. Suffice to say that the points which I’ve decided to measure quality on are the -best- methods we have. If you have a better method, I’d be glad to hear it, but so far you’ve mentioned storyline and gameplay; both of which I agree with but that I have to say are difficult to measure.
You’re right about critical reception changing over the years, but I expect that these games are to be released on PLUS within 3 – 5 years of their release (though I’d prefer sooner). In that time, critical reception very rarely changes dramatically, while cult followings may have been earned.
And if you believe this is a moot point that doesn’t require analysis, then you shouldn’t be chiding those who believe it is, right? If you’re happy, no one is stopping you from being happy with your subscription. Those of us who aren’t just choose to voice it. I don’t think that should be a problem.
btw, at this point I am just conversing, not trying to argue. My opinions are my own, it just annoys me that so many people complain, seemingly without seeing any sort of bigger picture.
You know, I bet most people don’t care about indie or art games. Nothing for me this week, again.
I am very happy with my subscription, totally getting my moneys worth. However, I feel that there needs to be spoken opposition towards the complaints.
If everyone who is happy just stays quiet then the only voices heard are those complaining
@TALLglassofWATER
Absolutely, I’m not taking this to be an argument as you’re pretty civil and we do agree on a lot of points. All I’m saying is, I wish I didn’t live in the internet age where I can just look over to my neighbour and see that I’m getting screwed.
We’re all looking at the big picture, and we’ve all given pretty good reasoning behind our positions and in the end have not come to a conclusion. I’ve yet to see an argument that I don’t have a counterargument to though, and so my position, like yours, is sealed.
Anyway, I think the recent crackdown on insulting and offending behaviour should definitely make a difference in making things a little easier between all sides, so I predict in the coming weeks/months that things should calm down a bit.
At least, hopefully. :P
@TALLglassofWATER
“If everyone who is happy just stays quiet then the only voices heard are those complaining”
Exactly! People are less likely to comment when they’re happy. As a matter of fact, if you look at the number of comments on the previous updates, you’ll notice a dramatic decrease in comments on Darksiders week. I think this fits in perfectly with the idea, less people were unhappy and so less people commented.
I made sure I did my part by complementing their choice and voting in the polls to show that I was happy. But it’s up to PS to realize this. Judging by the comments, I’d say 50% are happy with their PLUS at least. However, I still don’t think it’s good numbers for SCEA.
Customer satisfaction is paramount in a subscription-oriented service as return customers are your bread and butter.
I’m with ya TALLglassofWATER…
My glass is also “half-full”.
Hey, the majority of complaints on here are region based, it’s been explained before but most people refuse to understand. Complaining is easier than understanding for most.
Being that the region thing is such a big issue, it really comes down to Playstation vs. Playstation. Nobody is talking about Xbox or Nintendo services because they don’t exist.
I am proud to be a plus member because it offers me something….as opposed to NOTHING.
As an optional service, I opt “yes”.
@ Joegoodsnake For the time being I am happy that there are at least people like us that are providing sound, intelligent feedback. I have been reading these forums for long enough to feel that sony actually does have people reading them and it seems to me that they even takes their user’s opinions, desires, and ideas into consideration.
^.^